Will Dispur arrest the rising trend?

June 25, 2016

Crimes against women

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 24: Statistics regarding crimes against women in Assam from 2005 to March 2016 gives a clear sigl to the BJP-led Government at Dispur that it will have to sweat it out to bring the crime graph down.

According to statistics obtained from the State police force, the number of rape cases in the State in the first three months this year is 351. The number of women trafficking cases in the State during the period is 12, besides 31 cases of dowry death, 1855 cases of cruelty by husbands, 1196 cases of kidpping and 664 cases of molestation. It needs no mention that the BJP-led government took charge only in May 24 this year.

The number of rape cases in the State since 2005 shows a clear-cut rise – 1238 in 2005, 1244 in 2006, 1437 in 2007, 1438 in 2008, 1631 in 2009, 1721 in 2010, 1700 in 2011, 1716 in 2012, 1937 in 2013, 2047 in 2014 and 1852 in 2015.

The trend in trafficking in the State since 2005 is almost the same. There were 25 such cases in 2005, 29 in 2006, 21 in 2007, 27 in 2008, 37 in 2009, 25 in 2010, 21 in 2011, 30 in 2012, 18 in 2013, 82 in 2014 and 73 in 2015.

The rising cases of dowry deaths in the State is something to worry about. There were 99 cases of dowry deaths in the State in 2005, 105 in 2006, 100 in 2007, 103 in 2008, 170 in 2009, 175 in 2010, 121 in 2011, 140 in 2012, 170 in 2013, 205 in 2014, and 208 in 2015.

The cases of cruelty by husbands in the State have also been maintaining a rising trend since 2005. There were 2206 such cases in 2005, 2548 in 2006, 3000 in 2007, 3478 in 2008, 4398 in 2009, 5410 in 2010, 5246 in 2011, 6407 in 2012, 8636 in 2013, 9405 in 2014 and 9553 in 2015.

The cases of kidpping of members the fairer sex have also been maintaining a continuous rise, barring in 2007 when it fell slightly. The number of such cases was 1456 in 2005, 1544 in 2006, 1471 in 2007, 1789 in 2008, 2092 in 2009, 2767 in 2010, 3192 in 2011, 3360 in 2012, 4222 in 2013, 4499 in 2014 and 5068 in 2015.

Molestation cases in the also kept rising in the State, barring in 2007 and 2011 when the figures fell slightly. The number of molestation cases in 2005 in the State was 899, 1290 in 2006, 789 in 2007, 1272 in 2008, 1342 in 2009, 1400 in 2010, 1193 in 2011, 1840 in 2012, 2409 in 2013, 3381 in 2014 and 3362 in 2015.

With the change in guards in the State, people are expecting that the trend will be reversed by the new dispensation at Dispur. Will Dispur rise to the people’s expectations?